Stoke Lyne is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Bicester

Bicester

Bicester is a town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in England.This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and...

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

.

Manor

Tostig Godwinson

Tostig Godwinson

Tostig Godwinson was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson, the last crowned english King of England.-Early life:...

, Earl of Northumbria

Earl of Northumbria

Earl of Northumbria was a title in the Anglo-Danish, late Anglo-Saxon, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The earldom of Northumbria was the successor of the ealdormanry of Bamburgh, itself the successor of an independent Bernicia. Under the Norse kingdom of York, there were earls of...

 owned the manor

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

 of Stoke Lyne before the Norman Conquest of England

Norman conquest of England

The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...

 in 1066. When Tostig's elder brother Harold Godwinson

Harold Godwinson

Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.It could be argued that Edgar the Atheling, who was proclaimed as king by the witan but never crowned, was really the last Anglo-Saxon king...

 was crowned King Harold II in January 1066, Earl Tostig encouraged Harald III of Norway to invade England, but in September Harold II defeated the Norwegian army at the Battle of Stamford Bridge

Battle of Stamford Bridge

The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire in England on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway and the English king's brother Tostig...

 and both Harald and Tostig were killed in the fighting.

The Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 records that in 1086 Stoke Lyne's feudal

Feudalism

Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...

 overlord was Walter Giffard

Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham

Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville, 1st Earl of Buckingham was a Norman magnate and one of the few proven Companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The caput of his feudal honour was at Crendon, Buckinghamshire....

, who William II

William II of England

William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...

 made 1st Earl of Buckingham in 1097. The manor remained part of the honour

Honour (land)

In medieval England, an honour could consist of a great lordship, comprising dozens or hundreds of manors. Holders of honours often attempted to preserve the integrity of an honour over time, administering its properties as a unit, maintaining inheritances together, etc.The typical honour had...

 of Giffard

Long Crendon

Long Crendon is a village and civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England, about west of Haddenham and north-west of Thame in neighbouring Oxfordshire.The village has been called Long Crendon only since the English Civil War...

 until Walter Giffard, 2nd Earl of Buckingham

Walter Giffard, 2nd Earl of Buckingham

Walter Giffard, 2nd Earl of Buckingham was an English peer.He inherited the earldom in 1102 from Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham.-References:*http://thepeerage.com/p18737.htm#i187361...

 died without an heir in 1164. It then passed to Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland . Like his father, he was also commonly known as Strongbow...

, who was descended from a sister of the first Walter Giffard. It remained with his heirs until Anselm Marshal, 6th Earl of Pembroke

Anselm Marshal, 6th Earl of Pembroke

Anselm Marshal was the sixth Earl of Pembroke and Earl Marshal of England, the youngest and last of the five sons of William Marshal to hold that post...

 died without a male heir in 1245. Anselm's estates were divided between five co-heiresses and Stoke Lyne passed to Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford and 2nd Earl of Gloucester

Earl of Gloucester

The title of Earl of Gloucester was created several times in the Peerage of England. A fictional earl is also a character in William Shakespeare's play King Lear. See also Duke of Gloucester.-Earls of Gloucester, 1st Creation :...

, whose mother Isabel Marshal

Isabel Marshal

Isabel Marshal was a medieval English countess. She was the wife of both Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and 1st Earl of Gloucester and Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall...

 was a daughter of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

Sir William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke , also called William the Marshal , was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He was described as the "greatest knight that ever lived" by Stephen Langton...

. Richard de Clare's grandson Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford

Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford

Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester was a powerful English noble. Also known as "Red" Gilbert de Clare, probably because of his hair colour.- Lineage :...

 was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn

Battle of Bannockburn

The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the Wars of Scottish Independence...

 in 1314 leaving no male heir. His estates were divided between his three sisters but there is no mention of Stoke Lyne being among them.

Thereafter the Earls of Oxford

Earl of Oxford

Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, held for several centuries by the de Vere family from 1141 until the death of the 20th earl in 1703. The Veres were also hereditary holders of the office of master or Lord Great Chamberlain from 1133 until the death of the 18th Earl in 1625...

 held Stoke Lyne as part of their honour of Whitchurch

Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire

Whitchurch is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about four miles south of Winslow, four miles north of Aylesbury and has approximately 850 residents....

 until at least the 16th century.

Parish church

The Church of England parish church

Church of England parish church

A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...

 of Saint Peter has a late Norman

Norman architecture

About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

 nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 and chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

. A north aisle was added in the 13th century and a south tower

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 was added early in the 14th century. Most of the north aisle was demolished, leaving just the easternmost bay

Bay (architecture)

A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...

 as a north transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

. The tower has three bells. The parish is now part of the benefice of Stratton Audley

Stratton Audley

Stratton Audley is a village and civil parish northeast of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-Manor:The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Robert D'Oyly held five hides of land at Stratton. Like many D'Oyly manors, Stratton later became part of the Honour of Wallingford...

 with Godington

Godington

Godington is a village and civil parish northeast of Bicester in Oxfordshire. The parish is bounded on all but the west side by a brook called the Birne, which at this point forms also the county boundary with Buckinghamshire.-Manor:...

, Fringford

Fringford

Fringford is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about northeast of Bicester. The parish is bounded to the east by the Roman road that linked Alchester Roman Town with Roman Towcester, to the south by a brook that joins the River Bure, to the north mostly by a brook that is a tributary of...

 with Hethe

Hethe

Hethe is a village and civil parish about north of Bicester in Oxfordshire.-Manor:The village's toponym comes from the Old English hæp meaning "uncultivated ground"....

 and Stoke Lyne. The benefice is part of the Shelswell

Shelswell

Shelswell is a hamlet in Oxfordshire about south of Brackley in neighbouring Northamptonshire.-Manor:Shelswell's toponym comes from Old English and suggest's that the settlement may originally have been the well belonging to Scield, a Saxon settler. The spring that gave rise to this well is no...

 group of parishes.

A Church of England school for the village was built in 1864 and reorganised as a junior school in 1930. It was still open in 1954 but has since closed.

Amenities

Stoke Lyne has a public house

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

, the Peyton Arms, controlled by the Hook Norton Brewery

Hook Norton Brewery

Hook Norton Brewery is a regional brewery in Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, England, founded in 1849. The brewing plant is a traditional Victorian "tower" brewery in which all the stages of the brewing process flow logically from floor to floor; mashing at the top, boiling in the middle, fermentation...

. Stoke Lyne has a Women's Institute.